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John Ross' Seven Suggestions for Writing a Novel
1. OUTLINE:
Some authors claim they just start writing and see what pops out. If they do this and are
successful, more power to them. I cannot imagine following this path and ending up with
something I liked. I advise laying out the framework of the entire story (including the
ending!) in 2-3 pages before actually starting the book. Don't start writing until you have
an outline that you really like.
2. DRAMATIC CONCEPT:
Publisher's Weekly reduces preview descriptions of new books to ONE sentence. You
should be able to do this with your book, also. My novel is over 800 pages, but its
dramatic concept can be stated in one sentence: After federal agents have gradually and
increasingly chilled citizen's rights for decades without suffering any penalty, what's going
to happen when they finally hit someone who knows how to hit back?
Can you sum up your book in one sentence? If you can't, you don't have a strong enough
dramatic concept. Develop one.
3. POINT-OF-VIEW:
Control point-of-view with a limited number of point-of-view characters. Don't jump
back-and-forth within a scene; tell from a single viewpoint for an entire chapter or
section, then switch. Use the "omniscient" viewpoint sparingly. Use AT LEAST two POV
characters; four is a good number for most novels. If your story is long and stretches over
a longer period of time, 6-8 is reasonable. POV characters must be important ones.
Don't EVER tell from the POV of a minor character, even for a paragraph. The reader
will automatically assume the character is important, and will wait for him to reappear in
the story to do something crucial to the storyline. If a minor character is thinking
something that the reader has to understand, do a quick rewrite where you figure out a
way to have the character say the thought aloud. Related point: If a character is very
minor but still necessary (because of his actions), don't even give him a name. Refer to
him as "the hotel manager" or whatever. Doing this will prevent the reader from expecting
him to become integral to the story.
4. TENSION and ESCALATION:
Conflict is crucial to a good story. Equally important is that the conflict escalate. The
stakes must get higher and higher. Go see Fatal Attraction if you want a lesson in
escalation. An excellent first novel with gut-wrenching escalation is A Simple Plan by
Scott Smith. Does the tension in your novel start innocuously and then steadily escalate to
a critical level? Rewrite until it does.
5. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS:
"Cathy was a kind, hardworking woman whose solid character was grounded in deep religious beliefs." Big deal. This tells me more about the author than it does about Cathy.
Put Cathy in a difficult situation and let's see how she copes. Then I'll see what kind of
person she is. Doing this, you will also create characters the reader cares about. Are you
lecturing the reader about what your characters are made of, or are your characters'
actions making it clear?
6. DIALOGUE:
Read it aloud. Does anyone YOU know really talk that way? If not, you need a rewrite.
7. OBVIOUS BLUNDERS:
A manuscript littered with misspellings, errors in grammar, and incorrect punctuation
brands the author as an illiterate moron. (Raise this agent/publisher impression by an
order of magnitude if your narrative voice speaks in incomplete sentences).
Hire someone whose English is impeccable to proofread your work. If you don't think
you need to do this, ask yourself one question: "Do I teach college- or graduate-level
English?" If the answer is "No," you need a proofreader who does.
If these suggestions sound reasonable and you'd like more detailed advice along the same
lines, I can recommend two books, both by Writer's Digest Books. For issues of dramatic concept, read TWENTY MASTER PLOTS AND HOW TO DEVELOP
THEM.
For those of you who want to write the next bestseller (I certainly do!) I'd recommend Al
Zuckerman's WRITING THE BLOCKBUSTER NOVEL. This book has a large number of real-life examples of what works and why. Especially good are the first,
second, third, and final outlines for one of Ken Follett's novels, THE MAN FROM ST.
PETERSBURG. (The first outline is lousy, and we see how Follett changed it into something compelling). Zuckerman also gets into the POV issue in depth.
I read Zuckerman's book when I was about halfway through the first draft of UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. I immediately saw some areas ripe for serious
improvement, where minor rewriting made a huge difference.
Copyright John Ross. Reprinted with permission.
You can read reviews of John's book Unintended Consequences at
Amazon.com.
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